State to revise teacher, administrator evaluations

Most Volusia and Flagler teachers are deemed "highly effective" or "effective" according to new evaluation systems that are partly based on student test data.

ANNIE MARTINSTAFF WRITER

The vast majority of teachers in Volusia and Flagler counties received high marks under a controversial new evaluation system, according to data released Wednesday morning. But later in the day, state officials acknowledged there were problems with the results. About 40 percent of Volusia teachers and 90 percent of Flagler teachers were deemed “highly effective,” the best possible rating, according to a report released by the Florida Department of Education. Statewide, 22 percent of teachers achieved that rating. State officials said the scores will be revised Thursday due to duplicate reporting in some school districts. Flagler Superintendent Janet Valentine and Volusia Superintendent Margaret Smith did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday. The DOE report includes the number of teachers, administrators and other instructional staff who received “highly effective,” “effective,” “needs improvement,” “developing” and “unsatisfactory” ratings in each district and school. Under state law, the value-added model — comparing how students scored on tests to how they were expected to perform — began counting last school year for part of the evaluation score for teachers, principals and assistant principals. Other factors, such as classroom observations and lesson plans, make up the rest of the evaluation. For many teachers, particularly for those in subject areas or grade levels where students do not take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, evaluations are based on schoolwide test scores. Officials with the statewide teachers union say the system is flawed and they plan to appeal to the state Legislature to revise the law it passed last year requiring test-based evaluations. Katie Hansen, president of the Flagler County Educators Association, said she was comfortable with school administrators' appraisals of their employees but called the test score portion “highly unreliable and invalid.” “The problem lies in this (value added model) score that can't really be defended, can't really be explained to anybody,” Hansen said. Districts were given leeway in how they scored teachers, and many “exercised caution,” in using student data to evaluate data, leading to large disparities between districts, said Kathy Hebda, the state's deputy chancellor for educator quality. “We are not surprised at the variation at year 1,” Hebda told reporters Wednesday during a conference call. Flagler County had the highest percentage of teachers deemed “highly effective” in the state. In St. Johns County, the highest-ranking district in the state, about a third of the county's teachers earned that rating. Administrators in Flagler fared even better: 94 percent were considered highly effective, compared to 38 percent in Volusia and 22 percent statewide. The stakes are high for school staff, who can lose their jobs over repeated low performance ratings. Two years from now, their evaluations will determine who will qualify for merit pay. But Volusia officials notified staff members last week that none of their evaluations will be “negatively impacted” by the new evaluation model after more than 100 teachers complained that student test data dragged down their performance ratings. The test-driven data doesn't say much about what a teacher is doing well and what they're not, said Andrew Spar, president of the Volusia Teachers Organization. “It doesn't tell you anything,” Spar said. “When you really look at a (value added model) score, it really is just a score.” He favors the other part of Volusia's evaluation system, which includes classroom observations and “encourages and supports teacher growth.” The verdict is still out for 54,722 classroom teachers statewide, including 548 in Volusia and 48 in Flagler who were not evaluated in time for the report. Some may not yet be completed, while others won't be evaluated for a variety of reasons, including long-term sick leave, Hebda said.